LAHORE: About 1,000 railway workers and members of Railway Workers Union (CBA), carrying flags and posters, held on Saturday a motorcycle procession to press the Ministry of Railways to accept their demand for better working conditions.

The procession started from the railways carriage workshop and culminated at the Lahore Press Club.

It was addressed by several labour leaders, including union president Sakhi Khan, secretary general Rana Saleem, Mustansar Jawed, Mian Anjum and Shahid Latif who alleged that Minister Khawaja Saad Rafique had “gone back on his promises to the workers”.

Presenting their demands, the union leaders said the government must provide safeguards to workers who were dying on duty. They said the post should be filled by a family member of the deceased on a permanent basis and the government must raise the amount given for funeral services to Rs50,000. They demanded the railways minister fulfil his promise of upgrading the workers’ posts. They asked the government to waive off income tax deduction for workers in BPS-4 and raise their current salaries by 100pc ‘the same as for lawmakers’.

The government continued to spend billions of rupees to refurbish the face of the Pakistan Railways while its workers lack access to basic facilities, including washrooms, Ashiq Jehangir, an office-bearer of the Railway Workers Union (CBA), said at a protest rally.

Later speaking to Dawn, Mr Jehangir said they had organised the rally to take a stand up for the values and ideals the workers always stood for.

He said, “The minister had promised technical loans, service structure for workers and had vowed to stand by our cause if we backed his party.” However, he is yet to fulfil any of these promises.

Swallowing this bitter pill, he said, “we came out onto the streets to remind him of these promises and we will continue to protest till our demands are met”.

Published in Dawn, January 15th, 2017